The VC firm will work with senior professionals from companies including DeepL, ElevenLabs, Coinbase and Lovable to source investments, support portfolio companies and offer co-investment opportunities.
VC firm Northzone has launched the first cohort of its Northstars programme, bringing together 25 experienced tech operators from across Europe.
The programme aims to build a network that will work with Northzone to identify investment opportunities and support its portfolio companies.
As AI changes how startups are built and scaled, smaller teams are taking on responsibilities that previously required much larger organisations. This has increased demand for experienced operators who can manage growth, develop products and lead teams.
The 25 participants have experience across robotics, AI infrastructure, healthcare, cybersecurity and vertical software, and will form a pan-European network to work closely with one of the continent’s most successful firms on dealflow and portfolio support.
In its first year of the new programme, Northzone will bring those ambassadors into its pipeline and investment process, helping to identify deals, offering them the opportunity to co-invest with the firm in companies they individually source, as well as providing advisory and mentorship services to Northzone portfolio companies.
The 25 Northstars are the first chosen operators in the ongoing programme.
The Northstars
- Adyen: Dhruv Ghulati, Principal Project Manager, AI/ML
- Black Forest Labs: Aitana Giebels van Bekestein, Marketing
- Coinbase: Keith Grose, Managing Director UK and Europe
- Comand AI: Marie Inuzuka, Co-founder and CPO
- DeepL: Sebastian Enderlein, CTO
- ElevenLabs: Pieris Christofi, Deployment & Product
- Fireworks: Dimi Nikolaou, Field CTO
- Genesis: Guillaume Soulé, Head of EU Business
- Langdock: Lina Wenner, Chief of Staff
- LegalFly: João Nunes, Chief of Staff
- Lovable: Sophia Nabil, Community and Growth
- Thomas Gayno, Product Advisor (ex-Mistral, ex-Mirelo)
- MicroAGI: Zeno Hamers, Macrovector, Research and Deployments
- Neko Health: Dr Gesa Sophia Borgeest, Head of GTM
- Numeric: Alex Heintze, Solutions Lead, EMEA
- Omnea: Patrick Penzo, Head of Marketing
- OpenFX: Karan Shah, Chief of Staff
- Samsara: Praveen Murugesan, VP Engineering
- Sana: Olivia Elf, Head of Operations
- Sierra: Nick Young, Regional VP Enterprise Sales
- Scarlet: James Allgrove, COO
- Sunrise Robotics: Bronagh Crowley, GTM
- Tandem: Nelly Andrée Tranaas, Director of Operations
- Qutwo: Elin Dölker, Chief of Staff
- XBOW: Zac Wallis, Head of Talent
Sam Endacott, Partner at Northzone, who will lead the programme alongside Elena Pantazi (Partner & Head of Platform), shared:
“Silicon Valley’s edge is density: capital and talent in one place, feeding each other. Europe has the talent but it is spread across dozens of cities and ecosystems.
The best operators in Berlin, Stockholm, Zurich, Paris and London should all be on speed dial with each other so they can share what best-in-class looks like in their respective fields.
The operators we have partnered with across Europe today are the future of tech on the Continent. We’re thrilled to build a founding community with them to continue unlocking the next generation of startups and founders who want to learn from top-tier talent who’ve helped scale Europe’s biggest platforms in AI.”